Strife, n.
Etymology: [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
1. The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [Archaic] Shak.
2. Exertion or contention for superiority; contest of emulation, either by intellectual or physical efforts. Doting about questions and strifes of words. 1 Tim. vi. 4. Thus gods contended -- noble strife -Who most should ease the wants of life. Congreve.
3. Altercation; violent contention; fight; battle. Twenty of them fought in this black strife. Shak. These vows, thus granted, raised a strife above Betwixt the god of war and queen of love. Dryden.
4. That which is contended against; occasion of contest. [Obs.] "Lamenting her unlucky strife." Spenser.
1 more senses
Syn. -- Contest; struggle; quarrel. See Contention.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for strife; he lists it under battle, feud.
Where he writes about it:
A quarrel is in word or act, or both, and is commonly slight and transient, as we speak of childish quarrels; contention and strife may be in word or deed; contest ordinarily involves some form of action. — from feud
Contest is often used in a good sense, contention and strife very rarely so. — from feud
Controversy is commonly in words; strife extends from verbal controversy to the contests of armies. — from feud